After Jaguars and BMWs you might think that I am a hypocrite
but let us look at value for money. The Jag I drove last month
had a sticker in excess of 60 big ones whereas the similarly
sized Hyundai is yours for a mere 25 or so thousand dollars. It
has a torquey 3.5 liter V6 engine and while it certainly does
not sound or pull like a BMW or a Jaguar it was no
embarrassment on the highway.

The XG350 is huge and very, very comfortable indeed. Yes, it
does wallow over undulations and the steering is a far cry from
say Nissan but if your idea of transportation is essentially to
go from A to B and not how the car handles on the limit then
there is nothing wrong with the Hyundai at all.

I am sure pushed hard over twisty roads it could make
passengers pretty sea-sick but honestly, how many XG350 buyers
will want to do that? The trunk is massive, the seats are
comfortable, the stereo system is fine and if I had to drive it
from Darien, Connecticut to Redondo Beach California in a
re-enactment of the 1979 Cannonball Run, A…I could do it and
B…with a good co-driver do it in two and a half days. That is
how long it took us in 1979 and I am pretty sure the XG350
would be up for the job. Fuel consumption worked out at over 20
miles per gallon of regular, another plus in the car’s favor.

Saab, Subaru, GM and finally the Volvo XC90 V8

Even though the Hyundai was nice it certainly wasn’t half as
exciting as Volvo’s new XC90 V8!

As senior Volvo executives confessed to me
off the record in Arizona during the launch, Volvo's parent company
Ford did two good things. The first was to buy them, the
second-to leave them well alone. Rare, if not unheard of in the
world of automobiles.

One just has to look at GM’s botched attempts at trying to
make something out of Saab and Subaru. Both were fine until
Detroit started messing with them. Even though Ford is not
unknown for stupid mistakes-think of those abominable Norwegian
plastic elctric cars in this instance they’ve really scored a
bulls-eye. On the one hand they are learning a great deal about
safety from the Swedes but on the other they leave them alone.
Instead of trying to stuff one of their venerable V8-s into the
XC 90 (it would not have fitted anyway) they allowed Volvo to
search for a suitable V8 to give the award winning XC a little
bit of extra oomph.

Even though I am not a great Richard Perry-Jones fan, this
time he did give some good advice. I am only guessing but
Yamaha as the V-8 engine source may well have come from
conversations with Herbie Blash who works for the FIA as well
as for Yamaha in the UK.

Regardless of the circumstances they found a gem, a jewel in
the crown. The 60 degree Yamaha V8 sounds great and does a
superb job. The displacement is 4.41 liters, the compressions
ratio is 10.4:1. There are four valves per cylinders in an
engine which has a maximum torque of 325 lb/ft. The gearbox is
a six speed automatic which can also be used as a manual which
I found very useful on some steep hills on the infamous Apache
Trail. One mistake and we would have been in the Roosevelt Dam
600 feet below.

The acceleration is a very respectable 6.9 seconds from 0-60
and on a private road we also had the Volvo zooming along at a
perfectly safe 100 miles per hour. Exactly what a wealthy
German family would be doing on the autobahn on their way to
Zurs or Lech in Austria for a week’s skiing. The V8 is quite a
milestone for Volvo, they’ve been in business since 1927 and
this is the first time they’ve got round to having one. It is
no coincidence that the Volvo is seen as a “blue car”,
according to a politician who’ll remain nameless, if you own a
Volvo, do yoga and care about the environment you are most
probably voted for Kerry. I am sure Volvo are happy to sell
their cars to anyone and everyone but with their highly
commendable ULEV II success it does not strike me as a Texas
automobile. ULEV II by the way stands for ultra low emission
vehicle, stage II) and the Yahama V8 is the first one to
achieve it. With four catalitic coverters even the folks in
Mill Valley in Marin County would applaud Volvo’s attempts as
producing as clean a vehicle as possible. Volvo plans to sell a
very modest 15 thousand units a year, which at around 45
thousand dollars strikes me as a very modest target.

Dislikes? I wasn’t crazy about the instrumentation, some of
the dials were hard to see. Would I buy one? Probably not. I
have 7 year old S70 in the UK which runs like a dream and in
the United States I would probably find the XC 90 too big for
my requirements. A four wheel drive 70 is all I need but if you
have a lot of children or are doing the school run with a lot
of children then let me stick my neck out and say that I do not
know of a safer way of transporting them.

Maybach 62

Moving on from the
very practical to the truly sensational I drove a Maybach 62
the other day. We were invited to a charity function and
without going into too many details let me just say that it was
full of the sort of people who could all afford a Maybach with
the exception of yours sincerely. Still, we thought, why not
ask our very good friends at Mercedes-Maybach’s parent company-
and see if we could borrow one for the evening. They were
wonderful. Not only did they let us have the car for the
evening, it came with an immaculately dressed chauffeur called
Brad. He very kindly allowed me to drive his charge, a huge
machine which sells for approximately 360 thousand dollars. A
vast amount of money but as some of our readers may well be
able to afford it let me give you some statistics.

The Maybach 62 has a 543 horsepower twin-turbocharged V-12
engine capable of speeds well in excess of 130 miles per hour.
(The cops on the Golden Gate bridge would have loved me doing
even half of that!) It has a 5-speed automatic transmission, 19
inch aluminium alloy wheels, hand-sewn Grand Nappa leather. A
refrigerated rear console with sterling silver champagne
flutes, GPS navigation, Sirius Satellite radio, 21(!!) speaker
Bose sound system and of course his and hers DVD/TV s built
into the back of the front seats. I am exactly 6 ft tall so
after handing the car back to Brad I settled into the back
seat. After pressing a few buttons I was fully reclined
watching the 6 o’clock news.

Outrageous? Absolutely. Amazing? Totally. Have I ever driven
anything like it? Never, nor am I likely to. Was it a very
special experience? Without a shadow of a doubt. If I were
Mercedes/Maybach I would take it to technical colleges to show
students what can be done when money is no object and also to
point out some of the features which with time will filter down
to everyday automobiles. It was the nearest thing to Concorde
on wheels. Maybach-thank you.

More on GM

The recent Buick was a
disappointment. While they are desperately trying to regain
some market share with new products unfortunately they’ve
lumbered them with silly names which I find almost impossible
to believe. For whatever reasons I will not go into foreigners in
general and the French in particular are not the flavor of the
month. Yet what do we have? Some products with names like
Rendevous, Terraza and LaCrosse.

How my old friend Bob Lutz
could allow these to go through defies my imagination. Luckily
Buick is doing well in China but could do a great deal better
at home should they have chosen names people can at least
pronounce if not spell. Yet, the very same people had the good
sense to change Daewoo into Chevrolet and give the brilliant
new Cadillac the name and the sensational new commercial it
deserves.

Land Rover LR3

Must say I found the new Land Rover LR3 a bit of a
disappointment compared to the Volvo XC90 V8 although I dare
say in the middle of the Sahara desert it would probably
conquer all before it. Still trying to figure out why they put
a seemingly very ill person into the commercial, while the LR3
is clearly very rugged, the guy looked in urgent need of the
nearest emergency ward. Pity.

Best and Worst Thoughts

Finally, as the following few
weeks will be very hectic indeed allow me to pass out some
accolades. These are purely subjective so feel free to
disagree!